Video games of the week

Syphon Filter is back. Syphon Filter 2, a two-disk package from 989 Studios for PlayStation, is a fabulous follow to the groundbreaking game.

SF2 takes up where the original left off, with heroes Gabe and Lian Xing framed as terrorists by their own undercover agency and fighting for their lives to find a vaccine for the Syphon Filter virus and block its sale to terrorists. The vaccine is particularly important because Lian has been infected and doesn't have long to live.

What's new? Twenty two-player arenas. The ability to play as Lian Xing in eight levels. Enough weapons to take over a small country. And a new split-screen, two-player mode which pits you against a friend in 15 deathmatch arenas.

SF has no difficulty setting, and it's not easy. You'll play the same segment over several times (at least I had to) before getting past the legion of commandos thrown against you. Each level has plenty of action, but each acts as a puzzle of sorts, too. There's the right way to do things, and the wrong way. Until you figure out the right way, you just keep getting dead.

Fortunately, the game provides a lot of save points, so you don't have to start over from the beginning. Look for flak jackets and make sure you have one on at all times; otherwise, a few well-placed bullets and it's game over.

And the bad guys almost always show up in the same place each time, which makes your job easie.

Syphon Filter has never been about just shooting. There are times when just sneaking around and finding a safe route to your destination is the way to go. The first time you play as Lian Xing, for example, you're not even armed until halfway through the level and when you do collect weapons, the only one you want to use is a stun gun.

Give the graphics a B; they get marked down for clunky backgrounds, although the detail of important items is good and the use of color is excellent. The sound gets another B, for realistic weapons effects and generally adequate conversation and music. Control gets an A, for the intuitive way everything works and the great targeting system which lets you pick off one bad guy after another while on the move.